


when you were mine

by liketheroad



Category: Suits (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-15
Updated: 2011-09-15
Packaged: 2017-10-23 18:33:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/253574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liketheroad/pseuds/liketheroad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mike’s been farmed out by Louis to various partners, and Harvey has to deal with each of them individually to get Mike back. Post-finale.</p>
            </blockquote>





	when you were mine

**Author's Note:**

> for Arsenic. ♥

Mike only spends one day (and, okay, night) working for the first of the junior partners Louis has farmed him out to before he gets pulled away by Harvey to help get Clifford Danner out of prison.

He’s not really sure how Harvey managed it (some act of God or Jessica, probably), but after that, Mike kind of forgets about it. Or he mostly does, as much as anyone could forget getting sold off for _nothing_ , anyway. The point is, he pretty much expects that he’s back with Harvey for good, and that’ll be the end of it, especially after they spend days fighting together in the trenches, bending the law to the breaking point and pushing Harvey’s sanity and integrity even further.

He thinks they’ve finally gotten somewhere, not quite an even playing field but something like respect, something like trust, except, once Clifford is released, Louis marches right into Harvey’s office and demands the return of Mike’s services, stating in no uncertain terms that he expects the remaining nine days of debt to be paid in full.

Mike tenses, waiting for Harvey to protest, to tell Louis to go fuck himself, but instead Harvey just nods, and doesn’t even look at Mike when he tells him to go do whatever Louis wants.

Mike’s fully aware that it makes him pathetic, but what bothers him most isn’t that Harvey bet him, and it’s not even that Harvey bet him for nothing.

What really kills Mike is how easily he did it, how indifferently Harvey gave in, and how terrified Mike is that Harvey’s not even going to miss him, that he’s doing to spend the next nine days finding out how little he actually needs Mike around.

\---

Mike knew he was lucky to be Harvey’s associate, but mainly because it was _Harvey_ and Harvey was the best, so that meant maybe one day Mike might be the best too. It never really occurred to him that Harvey’s brand of tough-love was actually Mike getting off _easy_.

Not until he spends a morning under the full power and control of Louis Litt, anyway.

\---

As if the morning wasn’t bad enough, Louis actually makes Mike take him - picking up the cheque and all - to lunch.

They go to an uncomfortably chique and over-priced bistro, and Mike endures a solid forty minute diatribe against Harvey before Louis starts in on the questions about Mike’s background, about Harvard. Mike is genuinely getting to the bottom of the barrel of his excuses, half-truths, and evasions about their supposedly shared Alma mater, when suddenly Harvey is there, looming over them both and looking pissed.

“Shut up, Mike,” he says, before Mike even says anything. Mike closes his mouth firmly.

Satisfied, Harvey turns on Louis, his voice low, threatening, and completely incongruous with the question, “What do you want, Louis?”

Louis looks shocked, and then positively gleeful, and he says, “I’ll get back to you on that.”

Harvey flinches, or as close to it as he ever gets, but he nods, and says, “Let’s go, Mike.”

Stunned, Mike glances at Louis, who waves him away indifferently, and then Mike is racing to catch up with Harvey, already half-way out of the restaurant.

\---

The next day, Mike thinks that’s really it, he’s free. But when he shows up at work, Louis and Harvey are arguing in his office, and Mike listens in long enough to hear Louis insist that their arrangement was only good for the day, and it’s out of his hands, he’s already made other arrangements dividing up the rest of Mike’s time amongst several of the partners.

Harvey looks like he’s been putting up an impressive fight, but when Louis says, “You made the bet,” the frustratingly honorable part of Harvey kicks in, and his tone is furious but resigned when he says, “Fine. Take him.”

\---

Mike doesn’t actually talk to Harvey or see him for the rest of the day, he’s too busy doing bitch work for Miranda Huxley, the next in the line of partners Mike’s been promised to.

She treats him worse than Harvey, worse than _Louis_ and really, Mike didn’t even think that was _possible_ , except apparently there’s a long way to go beneath ‘reluctant mentor,’ and ‘sniveling and power-hungry junior partner,’ to reach what Miranda Huxley is.

\---

He tries to avoid actually being in her presence, but he has two days with her, according to what Louis smugly explained to him, and Mike shows up the second day completely unable to keep the miserable look off his face.

He’s racing through his lunch break, not eating, but taking five minutes from working to go check on Harvey, hoping in an embarrassingly bereft sort of way that maybe there’s something Harvey needs from him, something he can take care of once Miranda’s finished with him for the day.

He gets as far as Donna’s desk before she holds up an imperious hand, stopping him in his tracks.

Mike sighs at her a little, thinking it’s a kind of uncalled for she’s not even going to let him inside, he just wants to _see_ Harvey, talk to him a little, but then she snaps, “Oh, stop looking so forlorn,” and hits the intercom button with what might be considered excessive force.

Mike barely notices, though, because now he can hear what’s happening inside Harvey’s office, and the sound of Harvey’s voice will never fail to command his attention.

“The Christmas party, 2003.”

Through the glass, Mike watches the colour drain from Miranda’s face.

“What do you want?”

Harvey smiles, all teeth. “It’s not that I want, it’s what I’m offering.”

Her eyes widen. “You’ll give me your word?”

Harvey nods. “I’ll never bring it up again, in fact, if we make this deal, it will be exactly as if it never happened at all.”

Mike watches as her eyes narrow, sizing Harvey up, but for all that he flaunts the rules, Harvey’s word is his bond, and anyone who's been working at Pearson Hardman as long as Miranda has knows that.

Harvey holds out his hand, and to Mike it even looks like he’s trying to tone down the shit-eating-grin just a little as they shake.

After that, Miranda walks stiffly out of the room, and doesn’t even look at Mike as she passes.

Donna gives him a pointed look, Mike raises his hands in confusion, and Harvey barks, “Mike, get in here!”

Mike hops to, hoping for an actual explanation when he gets inside, but all Harvey does is glare at him, sigh, and then unload a truly impressive amount of work into Mike’s open arms.

“Have it done by the end of the day,” Harvey dismisses him, and Mike frowns and rolls his eyes because, _come on,_ but at the same time, he’s man enough to admit that, deep down, a part of him is singing, celebrating, because this is Harvey needing him, even just a little bit, and Mike’s willing to take what he can get.

\---

He gets Harvey’s work done around two A.M., which gives Mike a whole four hours to sleep if he sneaks into Harvey’s office and crashes there, but only three if he has to bike home and then back in the morning. So he takes the emergency key Donna ‘accidentally’ showed him under one of her plants, and curls up on Harvey’s couch with his suit jacket pulled over top of him, falling asleep to the smell of leather and Harvey.

\---

He’s still asleep when Donna arrives at quarter to six, but thankfully she takes pity on him, if pity involves leaning really close to his ear and shouting, “Mike!” loud enough to make him jump, and then watching and laughing as he falls off the couch.

“Ow,” Mike says with dignity, rubbing his face and wincing a little when he tries to get up and his tailbone protests.

“You deserved it,” Donna informs him primly, and Mike accepts this because once he nods, she hands him a coffee and then spins on her heel, leaving him to soak up his embarrassment and caffeine in peace.

\---

He’s dressed in the spare suit he’s learned to keep in his cubicle and already working when Harvey swans in around ten.

Unfortunately, today Mike is working for Wilson Bradley, another junior partner Louis wanted a favor from, so when Harvey saunters up to his cubicle, and raises his eyebrows like he wants to know why he doesn’t recognize the pile of briefs Mike is buried under, all Mike can say is, “Sorry, Harvey. Whatever it is, it’s going to have to wait - I’m Bradley’s for the day and I can maybe get this done by six if I really hoof it, but that’s the best case scenario. I’ll get to your thing as soon as I’m done though, alright?”

Harvey’s face darkens and he says, “I need this research by the end of the day, I’m having drinks with the client at eight.”

Mike sighs. “Take it up with Bradley.”

He means it sarcastically, a joke, but Harvey nods purposefully and says, “I will.”

\---

Twenty minutes later, Mike’s doing research on Harvey’s couch and Wilson Bradley has some other lowly associate doing his dirty work for him.

\---

The day after that, he’s been assigned to one of the _senior_ partners, a woman who is currently ranked just below Jessica in terms of people Mike is legitimately frightened of at Pearson Hardman.

She has Mike scurrying around half the city for the morning, trying to locate a reluctant witness who slipped away during their last attempt at a meeting, and when he finally tracks her down and convinces her to testify, Mike all but flies back to the office to announce his victory.

He’s just about to knock on her door and tell Judy the good news when he hears voices through the inch of open door, and, unable to help himself, Mike listens, even though both of them could see him through the glass if they cared to look.

“Two games.”

“Five.”

“Two.”

“Three.”

“Two.”

“Fine.”

A second later, he has to jump away from the door to avoid it slamming him in the face when Harvey bursts through.

He takes one look at Mike, standing there guiltily, and says,“Come with me.”

He doesn’t pause, doesn’t look back to see if Mike is following, and Mike rushes after him without even stopping to tell Judy about her witness.

He can always e-mail her after he’s done what Harvey needs.

\---

On the sixth day, Mike doesn’t even bother going to find Louis to see who he’s been assigned to, he just shows up at Harvey’s office, smiling, sure Harvey’s already taken care of whatever it was Louis had planned for him.

Except, when he strides confidently into Harvey’s office, Harvey gives Mike a genuinely confused look and says, “You’re not supposed to be here.”

Mike’s shoulders sag instantly. “Where else?”

Harvey pushes his chair back a little from his desk, but he doesn’t finish the action and actually get up.

“With Jamie Kendrick, she’s got a pro bono case you’ll be working on for the next three days.”

But that’s all the time he has left, that means, “You’re not even going to try?”

“Try what?” Harvey says blankly, a hint of a challenge in his eyes.

Fuck it, fine. He can’t keep trailing after Harvey forever. If that’s how Harvey wants it to be, then, sure, fine, Mike’s pro bono guy.

“Where’s her office? Or am I supposed to figure that out on my own, too?”

Harvey wrinkles his brow a little, looking at Mike with a slight frown on his face. “It’s a custody dispute, a lovely lesbian couple fighting against the biological father, real piece of work. Just the sort of thing your heart bleeds for. I thought you’d be happy.”

There’s a thread of sincere bewilderment in Harvey’s tone, but for some reason, it just pisses Mike off even more.

“You know what, Harvey? Don’t, okay? Just don’t.”

“Excuse me?”

“You want to bet me for nothing? Fine. Go around picking and choosing who you feel like winning me back from, leaving me hanging one minute and then swooping in like a conquering hero the next? Whatever, I get it. All part of the Harvey Specter experience, right? This is your world and we’re all just living in it, it’s all fine, you get what you want, who gives a shit about anything else. But you can’t do all that - you can’t _give me away_ and then still expect me to believe you care about me, or about what I want. You can’t ignore me and treat me like chattel and then expect me to _thank_ you for it.”

Harvey’s out of his seat, now, his eyes hard and cold and he says, “You’re my associate. I can do whatever the hell I want with you.”

Mike just sighs, not bothering to dispute the facts, and just says, “Yeah, well, when you figure out what that is, why don’t you let me know,” before turning and walking out of the room.

\---

“Two games worth of Yankee’s playoff tickets, an extremely boring dinner with a first-year junior partner, one very big piece of leverage, an entire morning spent playing tennis and networking with Louis, his favorite Willie Dixon record, and a bottle of his best scotch.”

“What?”

Donna’s hands are on her hips and she’s got him cornered in the break-room, a dangerous look in her eye that kind of makes Mike want to raise his hands in the air and beg for mercy.

Donna backs off, just a little, possibly responding to the genuine terror in Mike’s eyes, and she says, “That’s what it cost Harvey to get you back. All that, and a considerable hit to his ego and his reputation in the firm. Everyone knows what you are to him, now, in case they could have possibly missed it before. You’re an even bigger vulnerability than you were before, and that’s what Harvey did for you. That’s what he was willing to lose to get you back.”

Mike just stares, his mind trying desperately to catch up with his ears, and Donna’s face softens.

She shakes her head, and puts one hand briefly on his shoulder, leaning in to say, “Get with the program, rookie. It doesn’t matter what he bet when he lost you. It only matters what he’s willing to give up to get you back now.”

\---

After his ‘talk’ with Donna, Mike wanders aimlessly for awhile, still reeling, and then spends another good twenty minutes wanting to kick himself for not realizing the full significance of what Harvey was doing sooner. In his defence, the way Harvey has barely looked at him or spoken to him in more than three word sentences the past nine days hasn’t really projected Mike’s worth and value back to him, but this is Harvey. The only part of getting it Mike cares about is getting Harvey, and he should know by now that it’s never the surface you have to watch with Harvey, never what he says but what he _does_.

He finally finds himself lurking outside Harvey’s office, and stands there with his hands in his pockets until Harvey catches him at it, makes a face, and then waves Mike impatiently inside.

One look at Mike’s face tells Harvey he knows everything, and he mutters, “Donna,” with a mix of exasperation and grudging, but ever-present, fondness.

Mike smiles weakly in response, knowing he should play this off, revert to banter and posturing, but he can’t help but at least say, “Sorry,” soft and sincere, before shaking if off and forcing a grin. “Guess maybe I overreacted a little, huh?”

He expects Harvey to laugh, or even just roll his eyes and order Mike to shut up and get back to work, but instead Harvey just looks at him, all intense and dark around the eyes, and says, “I was never supposed to lose to Louis. It wasn’t even a possibility, and if it hadn’t been for the situation with Cameron, it wouldn’t have happened. I wouldn’t have lost you. And I need you to know that I never would have made the bet in the first place if I thought, even for a second, that we might not win.”

Mike stares at him, vaguely aware that his mouth is hanging open, and after a few shocked seconds, he snaps his mouth shut, swallows, and then quips, “So, basically, what you’re saying is that you’re pleading temporary insanity?”

“What I’m saying is that it never should have happened. What I’m saying is that I didn’t even bother to bet anything for you because I never expected to lose you. And if I had, I never would have made the deal with Louis, because nothing he has could ever compare to you, could ever be _worth_ you. Nothing is.”

There’s a fierce light in Harvey’s eyes like nothing Mike has ever seen, and he feels himself being pulled inextricably closer to Harvey as he looks into them, losing himself more completely than ever before. It’s too much, too much promise and too much to hope for, so Mike breaks out a smug, shameless grin and blurts, “You love me! You totally love me and my keen legal mind and my rapier-like wit and you miss me when I’m not around. In fact, you hate it.”

And then, in the most shocking turn of events yet, Harvey doesn’t dispute any of this, he just grins, too sharp and bright to be anything but real, and says, voice light and full of something like warmth, “Get back to work.”

Mike laughs, feeling the warmth in Harvey’s voice flood his veins, and it makes him brave enough to say, “As you wish,” trusting Harvey to know what he really means.

**Author's Note:**

> Just in case you have lived a tragic and deprived life, and, as such, haven't seen A Princess Bride, I think you'll find that when Mike says "as you wish," what he actually means is, "I love you."


End file.
